


"Love", Broken Windows, and Card Games

by Cupckeshrk8D



Series: Dragon Yugi [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Manipulative Relationship, Stalking, Villain Yugi, Yami Bakura is a dick to Ryou, Yandere, Yugi has no respect for other people's boundries, Yugi is a creepy stalker, let me know if there's anything else I should tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23417356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupckeshrk8D/pseuds/Cupckeshrk8D
Summary: "That was the last straw. It really shouldn't have been. Yugi had already dragged him into the card game mafia. He had already confessed to stalking Bakura. He had already broken into Bakura's apartment, breaking the window in the process. But for reasons known only to him, Yugi having the audacity to call him Ryou was what tipped Bakura over the edge. It might have had something to do with the fact that Bakura was not, in fact, Ryou, despite what most people thought."Yugi Muto, a powerful member of the Ghouls who also happens to have dragon wings, is a bit obsessed with local "tsundere bad boy", Ryou Bakura. Okay, he's a lot more than a "bit" obsessed. Bakura wants nothing to do with this crazy half dragon fanboy, but his quest for the millenium items leads to him teaming up with him anyway.Part of my Red Eyes Black Dragon Yugi AU
Relationships: one sided Yugi Muto/Yami Bakura
Series: Dragon Yugi [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684462
Kudos: 2





	"Love", Broken Windows, and Card Games

Bakura opened his locker, finding the usual pile of letters containing heartfelt emotional love confessions from people he had never spoken more than a word or two to. Bakura was, to put it bluntly, extremely cold and aggressive to anyone who worked up the courage to talk to him. Unfortunately for him, this did not deter the fangirls. In fact, it seemed to encourage them. Somehow they had gotten it into their heads that this angry, coldhearted loner was the tsundere bad boy of their dreams. Though Bakura would have much prefered to be kept alone, he wouldn't deny that having a group of oblivious easily manipulated morons desperate to impress him wasn't entirely useless. So he tolerated the fanclub, grit his teeth, and glanced through the letters, looking for anything even the slightest bit useful to use in manipulating them.

"I know we haven't met Bakura, but I can feel that we're just meant to be!"

"Will you be my valentine Bakura?"

"I think we're connected by a red string of fate, Bakura."

"Bakura, will you go out with me?"

"I love you Bakura!"

"Will you help me take over the world, Bakura?"

Ugh, these were just pathetic.

  
Wait. What was that last one? 

He quickly began scrambling to find the letter again, having lost it in the pile of all the others.

"We haven't met yet, but I've been watching you. Will you help me take over the world, Bakura? Meet me at the arcade to discuss things further."

What was this doing buried under all these love confessions? There was no name and the envelope it had come in was covered in heart stickers, causing it to blend in perfectly with the actual love letters. He had no idea who this person was, nor any reason to trust them, but he figured that even if it was a trap it was nothing he couldn't handle.

And so he found himself standing in front of an arcade waiting to see what would happen. The note hadn't actually specified a specific location, so he just went to the closest one. There was nobody claiming to be the author of the note, leading him to suspect he went to the wrong arcade. But just as he decided to give up and head home, something grabbed his arm and pulled him into an alleyway. Sitting perched on a box, hidden in the shadows was someone with bright red glowing eyes. They seemed to stare into his soul, something that should have been impossible given that the mysterious figure was making eye contact with him and his soul was hidden safely under his shirt. A sense of unease washed over him, was it possible to escape? His eyes darted to outside the alley, looking to see if anyone had noticed what was going on just out of sight. The stranger didn't seem to like this, tightening his grip on Bakura's arm. And the unnerving thing was that they weren't anywhere near close enough to grab him. He couldn't hear anyone else but someone had to be holding his arm behind his back.

"It's nice to finally meet you Bakura! My name's Yugi."

Yugi released his hold on Bakura's arm, allowing him to finally see how he had grabbed him.

A tail.

He had a tail.

Yugi stepped forward, out of the shadows, revealing he also had large black dragon wings. One could say that they seemed so dark that they swallowed up all nearby light. Or that they seemed to go on forever, an infinite black void that was somehow alive and moving. One could say that the tail swayed back and forth in a way that was almost hypnotic, like it had a mind of its own yet was perfectly in tune with Yugi's movements. But Bakura didn't really care, so he was content with just saying that Yugi had wings and a tail. 

As far as he knew, humans didn't usually have wings or tails. But he supposed that was just another strange and unusual thing about Yugi in a list that was growing increasingly long. Everything about him seemed strange and unusual, not just the tail and wings. His hair was a wild mess of different colors, mostly black with pink tips and yellow bangs. Those glowing red eyes looked far too large, and when he opened his mouth Bakura could have sworn he saw fangs. He would have been scared, except for the fact that this mysterious person who wanted to take over the world was like a foot shorter than him. The punk couldn't have been older than 13.

"You uh, mentioned something about taking over the world?"

The kid smiled, confirming Bakura's suspicions about fangs.

"Oh yeah! I'm part of an elite organization known as the Ghouls."

"Those card game obsessed nuts? Sorry I'm not interested in working with babies."

Bakura sighed, turning to leave. Gods, this was a waste of his time. Why on Earth did he get his hopes up? It was just some nerdy brat who had ended up on the wrong side of the law who had no idea what he was doing.

"Hey! Don't you dare diss my brother's card game obsessed nuts! And I'm not a baby! I'm 16!"

His brother's? Huh. So he wasn't just any nerdy loser working for the Ghouls. He was a nerdy loser related to the leader of the Ghouls.

"Besides, don't you play Duel Monsters too? You've got an occult deck focusing on Dark Necrofear and Destiny Board!"

"I don't really play much, I have the deck just in case. Wait, how do you even know that?"

"I told you, I've been watching you! Anyway, you're after the millenium items right? Well, I know the location of two of them."

Bakura paused. He really didn't like that the brat had been spying on him, but two more items sounded intriguing. He supposed briefly teaming up with the card game mafia wouldn't be too bad. It would at least be more entertaining than just sitting around waiting for an opportunity to steal the puzzle from Jonouchi.

"Which items? It doesn't do me any good if you're just going to tell me about something I already know."

"My brother has the rod, and there's someone who has something we're after who has the necklace."

"And I suppose you're not going to tell me anything more specific until I join you guys?"

"Sorry, I like you, but I'm not giving away Ghoul secrets."

"Fine. But know that I fully plan on ditching you losers the moment I get what I want!"

Yugi grinned, his tail wagging in excitement. Why had Bakura ever been scared of this kid?

"Why exactly do you even want my help anyway?"

"Because you're really cute!"

Yugi blushed, causing Bakura to groan loudly. Great. He was just another member of the fanclub. He couldn't believe some stupid half dragon fanboy had somehow dragged him into joining the card game mafia. The card game mafia of all things!

He grabbed Bakura's arm again (this time with his hand and not the tail) and pulled him out of the alley.

"So can we go to the arcade now? I didn't specify which one to meet at because I figured you'd pick the best one and I could just follow you there!"

Yugi talked a mile a minute, having given up on any attempt to be taken seriously as a villain.

Bakura pulled away, freeing his arm from Yugi's grip.

"I just wanted to know who was dumb enough to put an invitation to join the card game mafia in somebody's locker. This isn't a date and I'm leaving."

Bakura bolted as fast as he could, leaving the brat far behind.

Slamming the door to his apartment behind him, Bakura breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hello!"

Bakura screamed. It wasn't a very dignified scream. One could say he sounded like a little girl, but little girls tend to be a lot braver than Bakura was at that moment, so that doesn't properly get across the patheticness of the scream. To be honest, he sounded like a dying cat. In his defence, he really,  _ really _ wasn't expecting to see Yugi sitting on his coffee table.

"What? How? How did you get in my apartment?"

"Through the window!"

Yugi grinned, his smile somehow larger than the Cheshire Cat's.

It was then that Bakura noticed that the floor was covered in broken glass, his window had a giant hole in it, and Yugi's tail was fidgeting with a brick.

"Sorry for breaking your window, but I lost your keys."

"You lost my keys? Why did you even have my keys?"

"Well how else am I supposed to get into your apartment?"

Yugi looked confused, as if being able to barge into strangers' apartments without their knowledge was a basic human right.

"I can get my brother to pay for your window to be fixed."

"The problem isn't the window, it's you breaking into my apartment!"

Bakura paused, glancing at the gaping hole that was once his window.

"Okay, the broken window is also a problem."

"But aren't we friends now, Ryou?"

That was the last straw. It really shouldn't have been. Yugi had already dragged him into the card game mafia. He had already confessed to stalking Bakura. He had already broken into Bakura's apartment, breaking the window in the process. But for reasons known only to him, Yugi having the audacity to call him Ryou was what tipped Bakura over the edge. It might have had something to do with the fact that Bakura was not, in fact, Ryou, despite what most people thought.

He grabbed Yugi by his bright yellow bangs, pulling him forward.

"Get the hell out of my apartment."

In one swift motion he threw the kid out of the apartment and slammed the door closed.

He slid down to the floor, sighing as he surveyed the damage. He really didn't want to have to deal with it. The idea of calling Ryou's father and having to make up some excuse about how the window got broken was nauseating. At school nobody knew Ryou, so he didn't have to pretend to be nice. But around Ryou's dad he had to uphold a fake plastic smile at all times, pretending to be a sweet socially awkward kid instead of the three thousand year old murderer he really was. He stood up and moved towards the phone, hesitating. He really didn't want to deal with this. He really,  _ really _ , didn't want to deal with this. He gave up, having lost the battle against his laziness. He'd deal with it in the morning.

The next morning, Bakura slowly woke up and dragged himself through his morning routine. He had thought things like eating and sleeping were a tedious waste of time, but after passing out one to many times he admitted that maybe he had to do them. But he still hated them. It was infuriating that humans required so much maintenance. Ryou's pathetic body and it's inability to go weeks without sleeping was the worst. Sometimes, when he was particularly fed up with the body, he considered letting Ryou out to deal with this nonsense. It was, of course, a ridiculous idea that he'd never actually go through with. Even if he did let him out, Ryou wouldn't actually do anything.

Looking at the broken glass again, he decided against dealing with the problem. He'd deal with it after school.

Bakura walked towards the school building, late but not caring enough to run.

He slid into his seat, the one that was far closer to Jonouchi's than Bakura would have liked.

The school day dragged on uncomfortably long, the clock seeming to move at a third its usual speed. Bakura didn't care about his grades at all, which wasn't exactly surprising given how little he cared about everything else. And so he found himself desperately wanting the school day to just end already, while simultaneously not wanting it to end because that would get rid of what little excuse he had to avoid calling Ryou's father. The clock continued to tick endlessly without moving forward, as Bakura's boredom and procrastination duked it out inside him. Sadly this was not a literal battle, as that would have been a lot more interesting. But this metaphorical internal conflict did remind him of one that was a lot more literal.

Bakura pounded on the door to Ryou's soul room. His landlord had no response, as usual. After all, he hadn't been Bakura's landlord for a long time. Did your landlord still qualify as your landlord if you locked them in their room, took over their house, and pretended to be them? It was a question Bakura didn't have an answer for, as it wasn't exactly something you could ask other people about. He slammed his fist against the door again, as hard as he could. The sound was deafening. Ryou still didn't answer. Bakura kicked the door down, something that wasn't really necessary as it wasn't locked. But it made Bakura feel like an action hero, and sometimes you really need to feel like an action hero.

Ryou sat in the corner of the room, sitting completely still. He never moved, or talked, or did anything. He never even cried. It creeped Bakura out. He should have been grateful that Ryou had completely surrendered, but the lack of resistance was somehow more unnerving than anything else Ryou could have done.

"Hey, the stupid window in the apartment was broken! I need an excuse your Dad will believe!"

Ryou didn't respond. The silence was infuriating. Was he mocking him? Was this some act of spite? Or was his host just so far gone he was no longer capable of speaking?

Bakura grabbed the front of Ryou's shirt, pulling him forward so that he was forced to look Bakura in the eyes.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

He let go of Ryou, causing him to crumple to the floor.

Okay, maybe Bakura wasn't necessarily an action  _ hero _ .

He knew that Ryou wouldn't have a solution for the whole broken window problem. He just didn't want to deal with the problem and was running out of time. So he desperately grasped at any excuse to procrastinate he could find. 

It was pathetic. Here he was, the king of thieves, the spirit of the millenium ring, some unholy mashup of a long dead thief and the god of darkness, yet he couldn't even call his former landlord's father.

He sighed, turning the door to the apartment that technically didn't belong to him.

Bakura made a noise halfway between a scream and a gasp (that sounded even more like a dying cat than the previous scream) upon discovering that the window was suspiciously not broken. Luckily there wasn't a terrifying stalker with dragon wings on the coffee table, just a note and a heart shaped box.

The note, signed by someone named Malik Ishtar, was an apology for the window being broken and an explanation that he had had the Ghouls fix it while Bakura was at school.

Knowing that even more people were sneaking into his apartment wasn't exactly comforting. Why did he think teaming up with these guys was a good idea?

The box contained chocolates and yet another note. This one was from Yugi, and was a jumbled mess of apologies for the window and the same kind of cheesy, romantic garbage the fangirls were so fond of. Turning it over revealed that he had doodled all over the back. The pictures were all of Bakura and surrounded with hearts. The drawings of him were all considerably friendlier looking than he actually was. Looking at it made him want to puke. What was with this creep? Regretting his decision to join the Ghouls more and more by the minute, Bakura crumpled up both notes and tossed them in the trash. Deciding that wasn't enough, he retrieved Yugi's note and tore it into tiny pieces, then threw it back into the garbage can. He considered chucking the box of chocolates in too, but on second thought they looked fairly expensive. He might be a murderer and a thief, but Bakura was not going to waste perfectly good chocolate. It was one of the few things that made him accept that maybe there were benefits to eating besides not dying.

Despite having only been home for a few minutes, Bakura found himself desperate to leave. The window, which looked as if it had never been broken, unnerved him. He really didn't like thinking about the fact that there were now a bunch of random crazy people breaking into his apartment as they saw fit. Sure, he was also crazy, and it wasn't exactly his apartment either, but it was the principle of the thing.

Bakura ended up heading to the arcade, hoping for something, anything to distract him from how stupid this whole idea was. He had joined the Ghouls. He had actually joined the Ghouls. What was he thinking? However much he liked to mock them, it couldn't be denied that the Ghouls were a force to be reckoned with. And they had made it clear that getting out of it wasn't as easy as he hoped.

"Alright! This is going to be the day I finally beat Kaiba's high score!"

Great. Just what he needed. Jonouchi and his annoying friends were already here. He was standing in front of some fighting game, the golden puzzle around his neck taunting Bakura. Mazaki and Honda were nearby, excitedly cheering him on. He turned to leave, knowing how fruitless it was to attempt to enjoy anything when they were right there constantly screaming about friendship and duelist's pride. He punched the wall in frustration as he turned one last glance towards the friendship squad. Bakura quickly regretted it, realising that punching walls tends to hurt. He held his sore fist, cursing Jonouchi, as if it was somehow his fault. He turned around quickly, hearing someone behind him laughing.

"What's so funny?"

Bakura glared at them, then stumbled backwards upon realising who it was. Why did Yugi have to be here too? Though knowing Yugi, he had probably followed Bakura there.

Yugi smiled, though it was different from his usual expression. It was colder, more detached. It wasn't just his expression, his body language in general was far more reserved than normal. The darkness and neon lights of the arcade cast strange shadows that made him look far more sinister than usual. He laughed again, which sounded somewhat unnatural, like it wasn't Yugi's voice. In fact, his mouth didn't seem to be moving at all.

"Nothing."

Bakura's intense glare made it clear to him that it wasn't "nothing", so he continued.

"I just find it amusing to see that this is  _ oh so amazing _ new recruit."

He grinned, and looked so smug that Bakura would have punched him had his hand not been sore.

"What are you doing here?"

  
"I figured I should probably introduce myself properly, so I decided to pay you a visit. My name's Malik."

He extended a hand, which Bakura stubbornly refused to take.

"What are you? Some kind of split personality?"

Malik scoffed.

"No, just not in the mood to come all the way to Japan for some jerk who thinks he's  _ so _ cool just because he hasn't gotten caught yet."

Malik glared at him, and Bakura could almost feel the hatred in his eyes.

"Don't think for even a second that just because Yugi is obsessed with you that I trust you. You are entirely expendable, just a glorified pawn. I don't like you at all and would prefer if he stayed far away from you. But you make him happy, so I'm not going to complain. But if you break my little brother's heart, I will not hesitate to have you killed."

Yugi, or rather his body, collapsed and Bakura reached forward to catch him. He wanted to just drop him on the floor, but he'd rather not attract the attention.

"Bakura?"

Yugi loudly squeed in excitement when he realised he was in Bakura's arms. Immediately covering his ears to block this out, Bakura let Yugi fall on the floor. Yugi slammed against the floor with a thud, causing others to rush over and make sure he was okay. Bakura slipped into the crowd, trying to get away.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Wow! Are those wings real?"

"No, they're just part of a costume I'm working on. I wanted to get used to wearing them."

Bakura scoffed. Did those gullible idiots really believe that? He didn't exactly have a very high opinion of humanity, and Yugi's ability to walk around in public without any noticing that he blatantly wasn't human did nothing to improve it.

Arriving at his apartment, Bakura sat down on the couch. Well, it was less sitting down and more awkwardly falling, landing sprawled out on the couch. The trip to the arcade was a total bust, and he felt more unsure of himself now than when he had left. Malik's words repeated on loop in Bakura's head, his smug, mocking tone driving him insane. He really regretted not punching him. He reached out towards the chocolates, torn between the tantalizing smell and his refusal to accept a gift from a creepy stalker. The chocolates won this battle, as no matter how inhuman he liked to claim to be, Bakura was still human enough to be unable to resist the siren's call of chocolate. In between shoveling the candy into his mouth, Bakura sighed. Despite his plan theoretically having been in motion for over three thousand years, he had no idea what he was doing. Three thousand years, you'd think he'd have accomplished something by now! And it wasn't even that he hadn't had the opportunity, the puzzle was right there, he just had to take it. He was "just waiting for the right moment". But really he just didn't want to admit how empty it all felt. He hated Jonouchi, his stupid friends, the entire world with a burning passion. It was like a hundred voices screaming in agony, begging him to destroy everything. Shouting that they needed to pay, to suffer, to die. He needed vengeance, he needed to watch the world burn to the ground as he laughed at their suffering. It was his sole motivation, the one thing dragging him through his landlord's life. But he didn't even know why he craved it so badly. And the closer he got to actually doing anything about it, the more the emptiness taunted him. Why was he doing this? Who even was he? He knew he was a thief, he had vague memories of stealing, of fighting, of fire and anger, yet beyond that he knew nothing. And worst of all, he was out of chocolate.

The rest of the day passed by agonizingly slowly, as nothing seemed to happen yet the world refused to speed up. He ended up falling asleep on the couch, unwilling to get up when he noticed it was late enough that he should probably go to bed.

"Hey Bakura!"

Yugi's voice caused Bakura to immediately sit upright in panic.

"What are you doing here?"

He threw a pillow at Yugi, which smacked him in the face. A pillow fight wasn't exactly the most threatening method of attacking Yugi, but at least he didn't scream like a dying cat this time. Recovering from the thrown pillow, Yugi paused to examine the now wide awake Bakura.

"Why were you sleeping in your school uniform?"

"I don't know! Why are you in my apartment?"

At that question Yugi grinned and reached behind him for something. It was a box, which he then thrust in Bakura's face.

"It's time for your first Ghoul assignment!"

Bakura groaned.

"It is way too early in the morning for this."

Yugi's tail helpfully pointed at the clock, which showed that it was almost midnight.

"It's actually way too late at night for this!"

"Whatever. What exactly makes this so important that you had to wake me up at midnight? Why couldn't this have waited until morning?"

"Well the tournament starts tomorrow morning, so you need to be briefed before then! There's new rules, plus you need to know how to use a Duel Disk."

"Huh?"

"It's KaibaCorp's latest invention, it displays holograms when dueling so that you can duel anywhere!"

Yugi finally moved the box so that it wasn't directly in Bakura's face, and gestured to his left arm which had a strange device strapped to it. Opening the box revealed it had an identical Duel Disk.

"It's a card game. Why exactly do we need fancy hologram technology?"

Yugi either didn't hear Bakura's question, or just didn't feel like responding, instead choosing to pull more things out of the box.

"Here's the new rulebook with the Super Expert Rules, and a puzzle card. If you get six of them, you'll find the location of the finals."

"Okay? And why am I supposed to care about this tournament?"

"Well, remember the person with the necklace who had something we wanted? Well, it was a rare card and they gave it to Kaiba."

"What makes one rare card worth waking me up in the middle of the night?"

"Oh trust me, we have our reasons. And besides, once Jonouchi finds out, which I'm sure he will, there will be three items in play."

Huh, so Yugi didn't know about the ring. So the creep didn't know everything.

"Once my brother gets what he wants, he won't need the rod anymore. So what do you say? Prove your loyalty to the Ghouls, help us get what we want, and the rod, necklace, and puzzle will all be yours."

Yugi looked up at Bakura, his glowing red eyes filled with a mix of excitement and desperate hope. Malik's threat repeated in Bakura's head as he remembered just how strong Yugi's tail had been.

"Fine."

He took the Duel Disk and slipped it onto his arm.

"Great! I'll see you in the finals then."

He hugged Bakura, which if not for Malik's threat would have certainly resulted in a very dead half dragon. Yugi might be a terrifying stalker, but he was still a cheerful teen with a crush. In fact, part of what was so unnerving about him was how sweet and innocent he seemed. He was evil, but not in the traditional sense. He just understood absolutely nothing about other people's boundaries. He liked Bakura and wanted to be with him. It didn't matter that this entailed stalking, breaking and entering, and probably other things Bakura didn't yet know of. It didn't matter how clear Bakura made it that he was not interested at all. Yugi wanted Bakura, and so he was never going to leave him alone. Not helping things was an overprotective brother who ran the card game mafia, who despite the card game obsession was actually pretty intimidating. This led to a very precarious situation that Bakura didn't particularly like. He supposed manipulating Yugi's stupid crush was the one way out alive. And it wouldn't exactly be easy, as Yugi managed to be simultaneously a lot smarter than and way dumber than the fangirls.

"Yeah, I'll see you in the finals."

Bakura smiled at him. It was a smile painstakingly copied from Ryou's, soft and sweet, a brief moment of "vulnerability" that made the fangirls swoon.

"Bye!"

Yugi waved energetically, then slipped out the door, leaving Bakura to prepare his deck for the tournament and hopefully get back to sleep.

The night passed slowly, but eventually the clock showed that it was now seven in the morning.

Bakura groaned. He did not manage to get any sleep that night. After Yugi left, he spent ages going through the new "Super Expert Rules", which Kaiba really needed to come up with a better name for, and adjusting his deck to match them. Building his deck normally wouldn't take seven hours, but as much as Bakura denied it, staying up past midnight made it fairly difficult to get stuff done. He slowly stood up, slipping his now fully updated deck into the Duel Disk that was still strapped to his arm. He was only half awake, but the tournament was going to be starting soon. Gods, he needed caffeine.

One (okay, it was a lot more than one) cup of coffee later, Bakura was searching for other duelists. He felt his impatience burning inside him, his three thousand year plan was kicking into action, it was all coming down to this. The tension burned, or maybe that was just the caffeine.

"Hey let's duel!"

He grinned, not his fake "Ryou" smile, but a large slasher smile. Had he been facing the approaching duelist, they probably would have regretted challenging him.

Drawing five cards, Bakura smirked. This would be a piece of cake.

As it turns out, cakes are not actually that easy to bake. There are ingredients to measure, precise times things have to bake for, batter that needs to be stirred, and all of these things are rather difficult when you haven't slept at all and have deluded yourself into thinking you can function by consuming five gallons of coffee. This leads to things like dropping the cake on the floor then tripping over the cake, causing you to knock over a bunch of stuff, somehow setting the house on fire, and getting the card your entire deck revolves around banished with no way to retrieve it. Not helping things is the fact that the random guy you're competing against in this baking competition is apparently a professional pastry chef or something because their cake is so much better than yours and they've got four fire monsters and you've got nothing, plus your hand consists of one card and it's Magic Mist. Magic Mist of all things! What does it even do? All it says on the card is "Water vapor surrounds all monsters on the field", what the hell does that mean? Why did you even put this in your deck? How will you ever bake your cake with Magic Mist?

Bakura sighed, this was not going well. But it wasn't like he actually had any stake in this tournament. He was only competing because of Yugi and the Ghouls, losing so early just meant that he could get away from this nonsense faster.

"I hope I see you in the finals so we can have a rematch, Jonouchi!"

Great, Yugi was here. And he was with Jonouchi and the friendship squad. He looked down at his deck, reconsidering. His procrastination and apathy suddenly fading, Bakura drew a card with newfound enthusiasm. He was not losing in front of Jounochi. He was going to make it to the finals, where he would defeat Jonouchi and his other self once and for all. 

Looking at the card, Bakura grinned. Headless Knight, 1450 attack. His pathetic flailing earlier in the duel had managed to get his opponent down to just 1400 life points, though his own life points were only a hundred. He could end it with just one direct attack, the only problem was the monsters in between him and his opponent. He looked at his hand. Magic Mist and Headless Knight. What could he do with just two cards? And what did Magic Mist even do? Bakura looked at the card, at the grinning skull made of mist. He had put the card in his deck on a whim when he was barely awake and had no idea what he was doing. There was nothing he could do. He was doomed. He looked across the field at the monsters, their blazing flames seemingly spelling out Bakura's fate. But were they really the flames of defeat? Or were they the burning passion to never give up? His grip on Magic Mist tightened. He would win, and he'd do it with this card. With a description so vague, it could theoretically do anything.

"I play Magic Mist, extinguishing your fire monsters!"

He laughed as he watched his opponent's monsters get destroyed by the holographic mist.

"And now I summon Headless Knight in attack position! Headless Knight, attack the player directly!"

His opponent's life points decreased to zero, Bakura grinned at the sight of the two puzzle cards he now held. He was a third of the way to the finals, a third of the way to beating Jonouchi. And Jonouchi was right there, across the street, yet completely oblivious of Bakura's hatred for him. Well, he knew Bakura hated him. Bakura hated everyone after all. It's just that Jonouchi didn't know that Bakura had reasons for hating him specifically. Bakura didn't know what those reasons were, but that wasn't the point.

"Hey Namu!"

Bakura immediately turned around to see Yugi (who was still standing with Jonouchi and the others) waving excitedly at a blonde man wearing the stupidest hoodie Bakura had ever seen. It was light purple with gold chains across the front. The thing was a sleeveless crop top, completely defeating the point of wearing a hoodie.

"This is my brother, Namu!"

Namu? Did the kid have two brothers? Bakura stood there in confusion for about a minute before he remembered that fake names were a thing. Part of it was because he didn't want to believe that the leader of the card game mafia would ever wear something so ridiculous. It had to be another possession thing, like what happened to Yugi at the arcade. Oh wait, it was the card game mafia. Of course he'd wear a sleeveless crop top hoodie. In fact, Yugi appeared to be wearing a matching one, except it was magenta with silver chains.

"It's nice to meet you!"

Bakura chose this moment to leave, not wanting to be spotted and dragged into whatever they were plotting. His grip on his puzzle cards tightened, strengthening his resolve to beat Jonouchi. He just had to get four more. Just get four more puzzle cards. And take a nap, it wouldn't be good to pass out from exhaustion before he even got a chance to duel Jonouchi.

One nap and two duels later, Bakura had six puzzle cards and was walking to the location of the finals. He stood by the entrance to the stadium, glancing in to see who had already arrived. Yugi and "Namu" were excitedly talking to the friendship squad, Seto Kaiba standing far enough away to make it clear that he was not friends with them in any way, shape, or form.

Well, this was it. Taking the puzzle cards out of his pocket, Bakura entered the stadium.

"Bakura? You're in this tournament too?"

Bakura glared at Jonouchi, choosing not to respond. Yugi smiled at Bakura, eager that he had also made it to the finals, then turned to face Jonouchi.

"Huh? You also know Bakura?"

Bakura growled while Jonouchi explained that he went to their school. Why was Yugi asking this? Didn't he already know from his stalking? What exactly was his plan?

Yugi looked around, counting the people waiting.

"So there's me, Bakura, Namu, Jonouchi, Kaiba, and Mai. Only two people left and then the quarter finals will start!"

Mazaki, who had been talking to Jonouchi's sister, joined the conversation.

"Hey Yugi, you said that you also know Bakura. How do you guys know each other? He's not exactly the kind of guy to make friends."

She laughed awkwardly, in an attempt to hide her uneasiness around Bakura, someone who had a well justified reputation of being a manipulative jerk.

"We just sort bumped into each other at the arcade!"

Yugi smiled, seemingly oblivious to the fact that anyone could think Bakura was anything less than perfect. He grabbed Bakura's arm, pulling him towards the group. Great. The brat was practically hugging his arm. That is way too much physical contact for casual acquaintances. He pulled away slightly, but Yugi showed no intention of letting go of his arm. He wanted to pull away, to yell at Yugi and get him to stop, but he could see Malik glaring at him out of the corner of his eye. It was subtle, and the others were too distracted to notice, but Bakura could feel the hatred in his eyes. Though Malik was putting up a facade of comradery to Jonouchi and the others, Bakura could see the smug, arrogant brat he really was. He really should have punched him when he had the chance. Bakura's fists clenched as he desperately tried to think of a way to piss Malik off without arousing too much suspicion. Well, there was still the problem of how bad Yugi was at hiding his crush.

He grinned, looking Malik directly in the eyes as he smugly moved even closer to Yugi

"It's hard to believe that was only a week ago! It feels like we've been dating for months!"

The look on Malik's face was definitely worth encouraging Yugi's behavior. The mixture of surprise and anger was glorious. He looked like he'd been punched in the face and was desperately trying to keep himself from strangling Bakura.

"Hey look over there! I think I see someone!"

Malik pointed towards the entrance, desperately trying to change the subject.

"I am Malik Ishtar, leader of the Ghouls."

The mysterious person who had just showed up was most definitely not Malik Ishtar, leader of the Ghouls. But Jonouchi had no reason to suspect his new friend Namu, and directed all his anger and rage towards "Malik".

"You'll pay for trying to kill my sister!"

Honda and Mazaki quickly placed themselves in front of Jonouchi, in a desperate attempt to stop him from getting himself killed. Just as he tried to push past them, the entire crowd was soon distracted by a blimp descending from the sky.

"Behold, the true location of the Battle City finals! The Battle Ship!"

Kaiba laughed maniacally as he gestured towards the blimp.

They headed inside, Kaiba having apparently decided there was no point in waiting outside for the final duelist now that the blimp had shown up. Yugi excitedly informed his "boyfriend" about everything that had happened during the tournament. Bakura fought the urge to laugh as he learned about all the stupid stuff Malik had attempted. Normal people didn't laugh at attempted murder. And at least for now, Bakura didn't want to draw attention to himself. So unfortunately he couldn't verbalise all his complaints. Buzzsaws to cut off people's legs? Explosions rigged to send people falling to their deaths? Anchors to drag people to the bottom of the ocean? Whatever happened to just stabbing people? But at least he finally got to learn why the Ghouls were even getting involved in this tournament in the first place. Malik was after the "Egyptian God Cards", cards so rare that there were only one of each of the three. Kaiba, Jonouchi, and Malik each had one, and now the three were competing to collect them all. Kaiba's motivation was obvious, they were powerful trading cards. But Malik and Jonouchi, whatever reason they had, was tied into Jonouchi's other self, the soul contained in the Millennium Puzzle.

"Oh hey! The blimp's starting up!"

Mazaki excitedly pointed to the window and everyone quickly gathered around.

"Did Kaiba really leave without the eighth competitor? He doesn't exactly hide the fact that he's just interested in dueling Malik and me, but still!" 

Malik, who had apparently snuck up behind them and was now standing in the doorway, laughed.

"No, apparently they showed up just before the blimp was going to leave."

Bakura, deciding he wasn't interested in Malik's smug attempts at pretending to be a normal human being, turned to stare out the window at the city below them. How could they trust "Namu"? The dude wore sleeveless crop top hoodies for god's sake! Lost in thought, he fell asleep with his face pressed up against the glass.

He soon awoke to find the blimp now much higher in the sky and Yugi shaking him awake.

"Hey Bakura! Wake up! They're going to be announcing who's going to be dueling first!"

He grabbed Bakura's hand eagerly and pulled him up. The two headed to where the others were waiting, Yugi's wings flapping in excitement the whole way. It felt weird how normal Yugi's wings were. Something about the way Yugi made no attempt to hide them made his nonchalance spread to other people. He just had wings and a tail and no one felt a need to question them. Heck, Bakura hadn't even bothered asking about them. He just got used to it. After all, if magic jewelry from ancient Egypt was a thing, why not dragon wings?

"All right! The participants for the quarter final duels shall be determined randomly!"

Kaiba pointed dramatically to a suspiciously Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon shaped bingo machine.

"And the first duel shall be between … Ryou Bakura and Katsuya Jonouchi!"

Bakura grinned, adjusting his Duel Disk. So the tournament was finally getting to the only part of it he cared about. Stepping up onto the duel arena as Kaiba screamed loudly about how they'd be dueling on top the Battle Ship, Bakura took a deep breath. This was it, the moment three thousand years had been leading up to. What exactly had happened those millennium ago to have led to them dueling atop a blimp, Bakura didn't know. But the past no longer mattered, the world's fate now depends solely on this new duel between the pharaoh and the thief. Why did he refer to Jonouchi as a pharaoh? He supposed it was just because it made a good contrast to thief.

"Alright Jonouchi! It's time to duel!"

Jonouchi nodded, the puzzle glowing as his other self took control. Bakura reached towards his Duel Disk, drawing five cards. Looking at his hand, his smug grin widened. He knew he couldn't rely on something like Magic Mist to win a duel against the "King of Games", and had adjusted his deck since that first duel. His new strategy was perfect, and he had everything in place. 

"I summon The Portrait's Secret in attack mode! I end my turn!"

Jonouchi grinned, drawing a card.

"Really? No traps or spells? Then I summon Baphomet and attack your monster!"

His life points decreasing, Bakura smirked. Of course Jonouchi would underestimate him. And by the time he realised Bakura's strategy was based on sending monsters to the graveyard it would be too late.

"I then set one card and end my turn!"

Jonouchi stood proudly across the field as Bakura drew another card, looking rather regal. He supposed the description of pharaoh was rather apt. Summoning another weak monster in attack position, Bakura laughed. If Jonouchi was the pharaoh, then he'd be the King of Thieves. Jonouchi looked down at his cards, presumably wondering how Bakura had made it this far in the tournament if he didn't even know what defense position was.

"Alright, I summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior and use it to attack! Then I attack directly with Baphomet!"

Not caring about the loss of life points, Bakura drew his next card. He summoned the Headless Knight, then ended his turn. It had served him well in that first duel, and now it would go to the graveyard to help him win this one. Jonouchi grinned, presumably thinking this duel would be an easy victory.

"Gamma, attack Bakura's creepy Headless Knight! Then Baphomet, attack him directly!"

He pointed dramatically, and Bakura's life points decreased to 750.

"It's over Bakura! On my next turn this duel will end!"

"I didn't know you were so eager to lose Jonouchi. But I'm afraid I will have to prolong your suffering!

Bakura laughed.

"The deaths of my monsters haven't been in vain! To summon a monster of true nightmares, I needed three attack position monsters to be destroyed. Come out, Dark Necrofear!"

Still laughing maniacally, Bakura set one card and ended his turn.

"Too scared to attack? Well I sacrifice Baphomet to summon the Dark Magician Girl!"

Bakura looked at the monster summoned on the other side of the field.

  
"Well what's the point of that? You may have summoned a stronger monster, but she still isn't able to defeat my Dark Necrofear."

He glanced at Jonouchi's face down card, desperately hoping it was something to make Dark Magician Girl stronger, as he was just dying to activate his trap card.

"That's where you're wrong! I activate my face down spell card! Magic Formula, give Dark Magician Girl the strength needed to defeat Dark Necrofear!"

Jonouchi smugly grinned as Bakura's life points decreased even further, ready to attack with Gamma the Magnet Warrior and win the duel. But the duel wasn't over just yet, as Jonouchi had done just what Bakura had wanted.

"Thank you so much for killing Dark Necrofear! Her death releases the Marionette's Spirit!"

Jonouchi stumbled backwards, unnerved by Bakura's maniacal laughter. But not seeing any change to the field, he continued to attack Bakura.

"Gamma, attack Bakura's life points, depleting them to zero!"

Jonouchi's shout of surprise upon being attacked by the Marionette's Spirit was music to Bakura's ears.

"Your Magnet Warrior was possessed by the Marionette's Spirit, and upon being instructed to attack, hurt you instead, dealing half of its attack as damage! And your lost life points get transfered to me."

He grinned even wider than Yugi, holding up his trap card.

"Dark Necrofear's death also allows me to activate my trap card, Destiny Board!"

Jonouchi stared in shock as Dark Necrofear moved the planchette to the letter "D".

"Everyone of your turns she'll add another letter, until it spells death! And with the word complete, it'll be your death!"

_ So you actually do have a strategy! _

Huh? What was that? It sounded exactly like Malik's smug, arrogant voice.

_ Sumg? Arrogant? Really, are those the best insults you can come up with, Bakura? _

Yup, that was definitely Malik. He glanced over to where he was standing, but nobody else seemed to have reacted to what Malik was saying.

_ I'm communicating to you telepathically with the millenium rod. _

Wasn't the bald guy claiming to be you waving the rod around earlier?

_ His name's Rishid, and that was merely a fake. I still have the real one. _

Bakura looked over at Malik, realisation dawning on him. Was Malik holding the millenium rod behind his back? It's a large gold stick, how has nobody noticed?

_ Shut up and keep dueling. _

Turning his attention back towards the duel, Bakura drew a card.

"I activate The Dark Door, you can now only use one monster to attack each turn. Then I summon Earthbound Spirit in defense mode!"

"Alright, then I summon Kuriboh in defense mode! Since Gamma is possessed, I attack with the Dark Magician Girl!"

Bakura laughed, of course Jonouchi couldn't see the scale of his perfect occult deck.

"Actually, the Marionette is free to change hosts each turn! There's no way for you to tell which of your monsters it's hiding in. So once again your life points go down, and mine go up. And with this turn's end, another letter is added to the Destiny Board! You only have three turns left,  _ Pharaoh _ ."

Jonouchi gasped, his grip on his cards tightening.

"How do you know about my past?"

"What? You're actually a pharaoh? I just said it because it sounded cool."

"Though I have no memory, I was once a pharaoh in ancient Egypt. I entered this tournament to remember my past and discover the secrets of the millenium items!"

Bakura scoffed, setting a card. Jonouchi stood there, pondering his next move.

"I attack with Gamma the Magnet Warrior!"

Bakura clapped, a smug grin on his face.

"Bravo! You didn't pick the monster that's possessed! But I'm afraid that isn't enough to save you. I activate my trap card, Dark Spirit of the Silent! It's a continuous trap that allows me to decide which of your monsters attacks. And I choose the Dark Magician Girl."

The Marionette's Spirit inside Jonouchi's Dark Magician Girl attacked him, increasing Bakura's life points.

"What are you going to do now,  _ Pharaoh _ ? Three of the five letters have appeared, you don't have much time left."

"Two turns is all it'll take to stop your occult combo! I set two cards face down!"

"Keep telling yourself that. There's nothing you can do to stop me. My life points will keep increasing, and yours will keep decreasing, until the entire word is spelled out. In fact, I don't even need to do anything this turn."

"I believe in my deck and the strength of its cards! I will defeat you, Bakura! I activate the spell card, Monster Recovery, sending my monsters back to my hand. Then I summon Kuriboh in attack position. Since it's the only monster on my side of the field, the Marionette has no choice but to possess it!"

Bakura smirked, knowing that wouldn't be enough to stop his occult deck. So what if Jonouchi could control where the spirit went? His death was still inevitable.

"That's not all! I activate Chain Destruction, destroying Kuriboh and the spirit contained within!"

Bakura gestured to Dark Necrofear and the board behind him, still confident he would win.

"There's still the Destiny Board! The penultimate letter appears! You only have one turn left."

"Don't worry, one turn is all I need."

His occult combo was perfect, but Jonouchi had still managed to take out the Marionette's Spirit. Deciding not to wait for the Destiny Board, Bakura sacrificed Earthbound Spirit to summon the Earl of Demise.

_ Do you really think you can defeat the Pharaoh so easily? _

Bakura growled, wishing Malik would mind his own business.

_ You're relying too heavily on the deceased Dark Necrofear. If Jonouchi's face down card is some way to get her out of the graveyard, such as, say, Monster Reborn, then your whole plan will fall apart. _

He glared, not towards Malik, but he hoped that he understood that he would have if it wouldn't have blown Malik's cover. Who did Malik think he was, questioning Bakura's strategy? Besides, he had drawn just the card he needed to fix this mess.

"I attack with the Earl of Demise!"

Jonouchi reached for his face down card, confirming Malik's fears.

"I activate Monster Reborn, bringing Dark Necrofear back from the dead on my side of the field! Your Destiny Board and Marionette's Spirit are gone, Bakura. I told you it would only take two turns to stop your occult combo!"

Bakura held up the spell card he had drawn, determined to not lose this duel.

"Not so fast! I activate Deja Vu, returning the field to the state it was last turn!"

With Dark Necrofear returned to the graveyard, the Destiny Board reapered behind Bakura, the ominous letters almost done spelling out Jonouchi's fate.

"This has been a pretty exciting duel, Bakura. I put all my faith into this next draw!"

Jonouchi dramatically drew the card from the top of his deck, grinning when he saw what it was.

"I sacrifice Gamma, Kuriboh, and Dark Magician Girl in order to summon Slifer, the Sky Dragon!"

The god was massive, to the point where it had to coil around the entire blimp. Bakura looked up towards it in awe, immediately understanding why the Ghouls wanted it. Slifer was clearly far more than just a rare trading card.

"Slifer's strength is determined by the amount of cards in my hand! There's no way you can survive its attack!"

"Wait! Deja Vu also returned the Marionette's Spirit! And of course it chooses to possess your god card!"

"Do you honestly think something like that could control a god?"

With no way to stop him, Bakura stood there in shock, waiting for his inevitable defeat.

_ It seems you've gotten yourself backed into a corner, Bakura. What happened to the confident thief who wanted to challenge the Pharaoh? Do you really need me to get you out of this? _

Great, Malik had decided too but in again. Didn't he know it was too late to do anything? The Pharaoh had won, all he needed to do was declare his attack. Slifer had no weakness.

_ It's never too late. Slifer's weakness is that of the person who controls it. It's time for you to finally be a useful pawn. _

Before he could even respond, Bakura felt his entire body freeze up. He couldn't move at all, like his body was no longer his own. It hadn't been his in the first place, but he was panicking too much to think of that. What was that idiot's plan? Out of the corner of his eye he could see "Malik" approaching.

"Pharaoh, don't attack yet! Bakura is under my control, and I've weakened him so he won't be able to survive Slifer's power."

He held up the fake millenium rod, emphasising his point.

"So which do you want? Winning the duel, or not having innocent blood on your hands?"

He wanted to scream at Malik, to get him to release his control, to stop this crazy plan before the pharaoh killed him, but he was powerless to stop him. Nobody could hear his desperate pleas for help, his body standing completely still, his mouth refusing to open. Jonouchi looked at the fake Malik in horror, unsure what to do with such high stakes. He needed to move forward in the tournament in order to reclaim his memories, but even that wasn't worth letting Bakura die. But Bakura didn't know if he could count on Jonouchi's heroism to save him. He didn't trust Jonouchi, and he especially didn't trust his other self. He had a gut feeling that the Pharaoh only cared about others' lives when they were people he cared about. 

"What are you doing?"

Yugi grabbed the real Malik's arm, a look of horror and rage in his eyes. Malik panicked, his cover completely blown.

"Trust me! I know what I'm doing!"

"You said you wouldn't hurt Bakura! You promised!"

Yugi's tail grabbed Malik's other arm, the one holding the rod, stopping his attempts at resisting. The others stared in shock, not sure what to do upon learning who "Namu" really was. Honda was the first to react, trying to pull Malik and Yugi apart yet not knowing who to root for. Mazaki looked at them, tears welling up in her eyes.

"We thought you were our friend! What's going on?"

Malik began desperately pleading with Yugi, not responding to Mazaki's question.

"Please, we need to defeat him no matter what it takes! He needs to pay for all he's done to me, to us! Besides do you really think this pathetic waste calling himself Pharaoh would have hurt him? It would have worked out fine if you had kept just your mouth shut!"

Yugi refused to answer, wanting to trust his brother, but not quite sure he could believe him. Malik continued to struggle against Yugi's grip, desperation turning into rage.

"You don't understand! You didn't spend your whole childhood trapped underground, desperately wishing you could see the surface! You didn't have his memories carved into your back, a permanent reminder of the fact that you could never truly be free!"

Bakura watched the leader of the Ghouls fall apart in Yugi's grip, his careful, intricately laid out plan collapsing in front of him. It was all he could do, as Malik still hadn't released his control over him. Had he been able to, he would have laughed. The arrogant brat had been reduced to a crying mess, throwing a temper tantrum because he hadn't gotten what he wanted. It was certainly entertaining, but he didn't know if it was worth being completely immobilized. 

"You don't know what it was like! It's all his fault, and he has to pay for everything I had to go through, everything I had to do for  _ his _ legacy!"

Malik glared at Jonouchi, screaming out all the bitter, angry thoughts that had consumed him and driven him mad.

"I lost any chance I could have had at a normal life because of him! He needs to die, there's no other way my family can be free!"

Yugi looked Malik in the eyes, his grip loosening.

"But I'm your family too, Malik."

"You weren't there in the tombs. You weren't there when I woke up with my hands covered in blood, my father's corpse lying on the ground, and no memory of what had happened!"

He fell to his knees, unable to get any more words out through his tears. Everyone else spectating the duel stood there in awkward silence, as it's not everyday that the person who tried to kill you with elaborate card game death traps has an emotional breakdown where they shout about their tragic backstory. The millenium rod slipped out of Malik's hand and fell to the floor with an audible noise.

"I had to … I have to do something. I can't just sit back and watch. And if his death is the price I have to pay for my family's freedom, then I will do whatever it takes."

He looked away from the crowd surrounding him, not wanting them to see him at his weakest moment.

"Malik, it doesn't have to be this way."

Jonouchi reached his hand out towards him, wanting to reassure him that everything would be okay.

"Please, you still have a chance to make things right."

Not caring about all this stupid friendship and villain redemption crap, Bakura groaned internally. It hadn't even been twenty four hours since his last atempt to murder them all. He had apparently brainwashed Jonouchi's sister, Shizuka, dueling Jonouchi through her with the loser to be dragged to the bottom of the ocean. But the friendship gang was surprisingly eager to sweep that all under the rug and welcome Malik as a new friend. Feeling something move, he looked down to see his arm reaching towards his Duel Disk, yet didn't know why. There was still the strange disconnect from his physical form, he still had no control, yet the body was no longer frozen in place. As the Duel Disk fell to the ground, Bakura realised why he was still unable to move. His landlord hadn't entirely given up after all. His deck spilled across the floor, going unnoticed as the duel had been abandoned long ago. Ryou's hands reached up towards his neck at a slow snail's pace, as he hadn't moved his own body in months. The string of the millenium ring now in his grip, Ryou began lifting it up over his head. Bakura watched in horror, screaming for his host to stop, to put the ring back on, to surrender control of his body.

"What do you think you're doing, Ryou? You need me! Put the ring back on this instant!"

All around him, everyone had no knowledge of the struggle going on in Bakura's body. Kaiba was screaming about they couldn't end the tournament, they had to keep going, Bakura and Jonouchi had to finish their duel. Some woman Bakura didn't recognise was comforting Malik. He caught a brief glimpse of gold around her neck, the millennium necklace.

"Do you really think you can live without me? You gave me this body, why do you think you can take it back?"

Ryou didn't answer, yet Bakura continued to desperately beg and plead. He stood at the edge of the blimp now, the ring held out in front of him. It felt strange, to look up and see his host's face looking down at him. It had been his body for months now, but now he was back to being just a spirit in the ring.

"Please! Ryou, I can help you!"

Yugi was the only one who noticed that Bakura had left the crowd. As he cheerfully bounced towards his "boyfriend", Bakura was filled with hope. He never thought he'd be happy to see a half dragon stalker heading towards him, but he could trust Yugi. Yugi would do whatever he told him. Yugi would stop Ryou. After all, he loved him didn't he? Bakura had encouraged his obsession just in case something like this happened. But Yugi couldn't hear Bakura's screams for help and didn't know about the ring. By the time he was standing next to Ryou, his tail pulling him into a hug, it was too late. The ring was sent flying over the edge, falling down to the ocean below.

No! This can't be how it ends! He still needs to defeat Jonouchi! He still needs to collect the millennium items! He still needs to know why he's even doing this! If he had an actual body, instead of just a golden triangle, he'd be crying. It wasn't fair! He always thought that if he'd ever lost it would be in a blaze of glory, not being thrown off the edge of a blimp. And he had been so close too. Victory had been in his grasp! He couldn't wait another three thousand years for someone to find the ring at the bottom of the ocean. 

This couldn't be the end, right?

He'd keep fighting, defeat the Pharaoh once and for all. He'd finally silence those hundred screaming voices. 

This had to be some crazy dream. He'd wake up in his apartment, this whole tournament nonsense having never happened.

Or maybe he was still asleep on the blimp, and Yugi hadn't actually woken him up.

He'd wake up any moment now right?

The story was still so incomplete. There was still so much he had to do, to find out. And he was the villain, wasn't he? The story couldn't go on without him. They needed him, didn't they?

This wasn't a dream, was it?

Well, it wouldn't be long till someone found him. A diver would show up or something.

Somebody would show up soon.

Any minute now.

**Author's Note:**

> So I came up with this AU for an april fool's joke, this was just to be a short drabble to figure out Yugi and Bakura's characters. Somehow this thing ended up being the longest thing I've ever written and it doesn't even cover the whole story because there's a whole bunch more that Bakura wasn't there for. So happy april fool's day, and expect stuff for this AU focusing on other characters.


End file.
